Welcome!
Passage: Ephesians 4
Today: Insulated to God, open to sin! (When sensitivity is lost!)
17 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more. (Eph 4, NIV 84) emphasis added
Writing to Ephesians about the new life in Christ, Apostle Paul cautions about the danger of becoming like the worldly people-like those who have never met Christ. Here, he uses the word “insist” (v 17)
The church in Ephesus was birthed out of the Apostle’s hard work in the Lord, for three years. As their spiritual father, Paul is using his authority, in love
Paul says how the people of the world live, in “the futility of their thinking”
If the church starts living the same way, it would be disastrous!
Unfortunately, that is what is happening. Instead of living according to the word, we see living according to the world and own thinking!
“Having lost all sensitivity” is a key phrase to look at! When a person looses sensitivity of a certain a part of the body, it can be very bad. They may not know if something makes a deep cut in their skin and bleeds them to …. (unless they happen to see it or so).
When people loose their spiritual sensitivity, they can continue in any type of sin-tuation for any length of time, without any problem!
Again, this has sadly become a “common thing”, in many cases. In the early days of salvation, they felt bad about sin; but slowly, that feeling changed ot “O.K”, and then “good”! , now running after more and more of sin stuff! (v 19)
Sensitivity is lost in two areas: sensitivity to God and sensitivity to sin!
When one is lost, the other is automatically lost
How do we know, if a certain set-up/system is part of God’s plan or not?
If it is part of God’s plan, it will bring glory to God; there will be no room for flesh/sin. Spiritual people will be involved, and carnal ones will stay away ! So, if you see more carnal people running after something, it is not part of God’s plan!
In the human body, sensitivity is lost because of certain illnesses or brain/nerve conditions. To the outsider, that part of the body may still look O.K, but that part cannot react to impulses-good or bad.
If we are not sensitive to God, we cannot know about many dangers on time
In the same way, when we are not sensitive to sin, by the time we want to pull our feet, the enemy-the serpent- has our feet it in its mouth!
It is time to come back to our senses-our sensitivity to God!
Have a blessed day
BG
Prayer: Father God, thank you for speaking to me. I admit I had not been that sensitive to you and the word; there were those layers-kind of insulations in between us. I want to feel you more, O God. So help me. In Jesus’ name, Amen
We can’t be open to sin and God at the same time; it is one or the other!